State may repurchase historic Weldin House in Brandywine Hundred

The winding history of an early 1800s-era home perched at the top of Penny Hill on Philadelphia Pike may soon take another turn.

The Delaware Department of Transportation has made an offer to repurchase the dilapidated Weldin House, which was built around 1820 and was home to a forerunner family that helped shape modern Brandywine Hundred.

For a decade now, the home at 300 Philadelphia Pike has been vacant with its current owner failing on a commitment to restore the structure. The local landmark's future has been in doubt since about 2000.

Neighbors protested when the home was proposed for demolition to make way for a 7-Eleven gas station in the early 2000s. The Delaware Department of Transportation rejected the gas station proposal over concerns about the nearby intersection of Marsh Road and Philadelphia Pike. DelDOT ultimately purchased the property for $700,000 in 2003.

Two years later, the state took bids and sold the 1.3-acre property and home to the Sycamore Development Group for $52,000.

The group's intent was to restore the home for use as an office. The home was barred from being demolished or relocated as part of the sale. The group also committed to restoring the home as part of the agreement.

Bud Freel, a spokesman for DelDOT said the state and Sycamore did not agree to a timeline for complete rehabilitation.

In the decade Sycamore has owned the property, little progress has been made toward the restoration and the building's deteriorating condition has led to several citations from New Castle County code enforcement.

The state has also tried to use its authority under the sale agreement to make the group move forward with restoration, said State Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Bellefonte.

"People are sick of it. I'm sick of it," Heffernan said. "I feel like if they are not going to do right, they need to stop fighting it and let the community take care of the property and house."

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Sycamore sued the county late last year, stating the county officials had mistakenly applied some laws and ignored others in citing the property.

The lawsuit states that restoration work didn't go forward because of the national recession in 2008 and that the group has unsuccessfully sought to sell the property for years.

That lawsuit was filed in September. Rich Abbott, attorney for the development group didn't return a phone call seeking comment. He filed a motion late last year asking for a freeze in proceedings because the group was discussing selling the home back to the state.

Heffernan confirmed the state had made an offer to repurchase the property for the $52,000. She said an appraisal of the property came back at zero value because of the cost of the mandated restoration of the home.

Language in recent state bond bills, which dictate state building project work and other spending, directs DelDOT to either hold the owners to their restoration commitment or buy back the home.

"The offer is on the table and the community is tired of waiting," Heffernan said.

Because of the pending litigation, Freel said he could not comment on anything other than the preservation agreement and previous sales.

"I know the state is holding a tough line on repurchase price and I hope they are successful," said New Castle County Councilman John Cartier.

Neighbors, officials and local history experts say a resolution is needed fast as the house continues to be demolished by neglect.

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"The people who have it right now have demonstrated no capability to develop the property along the restrictions of the agreement," Cartier said. "The longer they hold it, the longer the property runs down."

James Hanby, a local history enthusiast whose family roots date to the earliest settlers in Brandywine Hundred, said the property is an important reminder of when Philadelphia Pike was known as the King's Highway. The path once served as the primary route connecting Wilmington to Philadelphia and other major cities in the mid-Atlantic.

"If you think of what I-95 is for us today, Philadelphia Pike or King's Highway was that in those days," Hanby said. "That is where transport goods that were not moved on the (Delaware) river."

Hanby said the Weldins were comparable to the Forwoods and Talleys as one of the "founding families" who "carved Brandywine Hundred from the woods."

"They were well off for the time. They were not du Pont wealthy, but they came here and carved out farmstead and for generations built onto those farmsteads," Hanby said. "When you look at the layout of Brandywine Hundred, how it looks now with the main roads, Marsh, Silverside, Shipley, these are the people that carved them out."

He said in the absence of effective local government programs to ensure restoration, the public must stand up to preserve a reminder of the area's past and hold the officials to their commitment to restore the home.

"It may be time for the public to rise up and say they are going to get actively involved in creating a future for the Weldin House and not leave it to the state to figure out how they are going to unload it to somebody," Hanby said.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.